This past Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won Arizona and Michigan in the latest Republican primaries. While Michigan delegate totals weren’t posted by press time, Romney picked up 29 from Arizona, a winner-take-all state.
By all accounts, it would have been a setback if Romney lost Michigan: He was born and raised there, and his father was governor from 1963-69.
But he didn’t win big in Michigan, taking 41 percent of the vote to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s 37.9 percent, Ron Paul’s 11.6 percent and Newt Gingrich’s 6.5. He did better in Arizona, where he took 47 percent of the vote and Santorum received 26.6, Gingrich took 16.2 percent and Paul took 8.4.
Certainly, Santorum’s statements about women the past few weeks didn’t help his position: In Michigan, he lost every category of women polled after Tuesday’s vote — single, married and working — by a combined margin of 6 percent.
It’s no surprise that women didn’t vote for him. Behold some of Santorum’s recent pronouncements: states should be allowed to ban contraception; abortion shouldn’t be allowed even in cases of rape; working women had been convinced by “radical feminists” that working outside the home is the only route to happiness; and President Obama is a “snob” for encouraging high-school students to pursue college or postgraduate training; and other statements that likely have alienated college-educated working women and those who consider themselves feminists.
The next date to watch is March 6, Super Tuesday, on which 10 states hold their primaries, including Georgia, Ohio, Virginia and Massachusetts.
As PGN is featuring marriage in this issue, here’s a summary of where each of the four major candidates stand on same-sex marriage, compiled by The Associated Press. Fred Karger, the openly gay Republican candidate, supports full marriage equality.
Gingrich: If the Defense of Marriage Act fails, “you have no choice except a constitutional amendment” to ban gay marriage. Under the act, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage and no state is forced to recognize a same-sex marriage validated by another state.
Paul: Says decisions on legalizing or prohibiting should be left to states. Supports federal law allowing one state to refuse to recognize the same-sex marriages of another state.
Romney: Favors constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; says policy should be set federally, not by states. “Marriage is not an activity that goes on within the walls of a state.”
Santorum: Supports constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, not leaving decision to states. “We can’t have 50 marriage laws … Abraham Lincoln said the states do not have the right to do wrong. I respect the 10th Amendment, but we are a nation that has values. We are a nation that was built on a moral enterprise, and states don’t have the right to tramp over those because of the 10th Amendment.”